DTI Press Release P/95/858 5 December 1995

LAUNCH OF NEW UK ACCREDITATION SERVICE 

"Improving the quality of certification and testing":  Ian Lang 

The establishment of UKAS (the United Kingdom Accreditation Service) as a private sector company represents a step forward for UK accreditation - formal recognition of conformity assessment bodies - bringing it closer to the companies that it is ultimately designed to serve, President of the Board of Trade Ian Lang said at the new company's launch today. 

UKAS has been created from the merger of NACCB (the National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies - formally part of the British Standards Institution) and NAMAS (the National Measurement Accreditation Service - formally part of the National Physical Laboratory) and will provide a single focus for checking standards and assessment bodies. Accreditation is the mechanism by which such bodies are themselves assessed and is fundamental to business confidence in certification, testing, and calibration. 

All sectors of manufacturing and service industry may make use of conformity assessment services to demonstrate their goods and services comply with customers' requirements. Accreditation helps to reduce industry's costs by reducing demand for assessment by more than one body and by giving purchasers the confidence not to carry out their own assessments on each occasion. Mr Lang said: 

"Quality covers all business and management functions to ensure that performance is continually measured and improved. Accredited certification, calibration, testing and inspection provide the measures by which businesses can demonstrate their commitment to quality, give customers what they want and can help reduce costs . It is therefore vital to the continued competitiveness of UK goods and services." 

Accreditation must have authority if it is to add value to conformity assessment. The government will therefore retain firm links with UKAS through a memorandum of understanding and a licensing agreement. These documents recognize UKAS' role as the sole national accreditation body in specified fields and give it the right to use and confer the existing national accreditation marks (the "Tick and Crown" mark for certification bodies and the NAMAS logo for testing and calibration laboratories), which are recognized internationally as symbols of excellence. 

"I expect UKAS to be a world class organization which will enhance the standing of UK conformity assessment bodies and in turn improve the quality and competitiveness of UK businesses and the goods and services they provide. 

"I am sure that under Bryan Smith's, (Chairman) guidance and Douglas Munro's (Chief Executive) management UKAS will live up to my and industries' expectations of it and justify the Government's faith in charging it with an activity so central to the health and performance of our companies." 

Notes for Editors: 

1. Accreditation is the formal recognition by an authoritative body that an organization is competent to carry out specific tasks; for example, certification, testing, inspection and calibration. For the past 10 years accreditation in the UK had been carried out by the 

National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies (NACCB) and by the National Measurement Accreditation Service (NAMAS). 

2. In April 1994, the DTI launched a public consultation on the future provision of accreditation services in the UK with a view to improving the national accreditation infrastructure. In December 1994, in response to the consultation process, Ian Taylor, Science and Technology Minister, announced his decision to merge NACCB with 

NAMAS to create a private sector company limited by guarantee (UKAS). These bodies had hitherto operated separately as part of the British Standards Institution and the National Physical Laboratory respectively. 

3. UKAS became operational on 1 August 1995. It is a non-profit distributing company and has no share capital. Operating surpluses are retained within the business and used for developmental purposes. UKAS members are organizations representing a balance of those with a significant interest in accreditation (direct customers, industry, end users and Government). 

4. UKAS will be managed by a Board of Directors consisting of four non- executive directors (including the Chairman) and three executive directors (including the Chief Executive). 

Biographical Notes 

1. Dr Bryan Smith (Chairman). BSc and PhD in mechanical engineering (Bristol). 25 years engineering and management at ICI (Director of Engineering). Latterly Managing Director of Competitive Edge Outsourcing Ltd. 

2. Dr Douglas Munro (Chief Executive). MA and DPhil in chemistry (Oxford). Previously Director of CTC Trust and Managing Director of the British Textile Technology Group 

ENDS

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